


The Finest Feeling

by Bow



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-11
Updated: 2011-02-11
Packaged: 2017-10-16 04:30:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/168429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bow/pseuds/Bow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Lu Ten's death, Iroh returns to the Fire Nation and forms a bond with Zuko.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Finest Feeling

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to lizbee, idlerat, and lolaraincoat for beta! Written for the White Lotus Lunar New Year Exchange.

It isn't the homecoming he imagined when he set out for Ba Sing Se. When Iroh sees the palace for the first time in two years, it is evening and he is alone.

Tucked into his sleeve are two letters: the first is a note of condolence from Ursa. The other, dated three weeks later, is from Ozai, and it bears the seal of the Fire Lord.

Ursa's letter is only a few lines long, and Iroh has committed it to memory. He has kept it because it testifies to some kind of human tenderness.

He remembers, still, the warmth of her hand on his shoulder after the death of his wife. He expects to find no such compassion now, after the death of his son. When the grey-faced messenger first brought the news to his tent, when the soldier who saw everything explained how it happened, when Iroh rode away from Ba Sing Se without Lu Ten, he cried alone.

Iroh is conducted to his new chamber by an impassive servant. When the man leaves, Iroh falls back against the bed and stares up at the canopy. He remembers Lu Ten at every age he reached, and dreams him at plenty more. The mattress is so soft that he sinks into it. He tries not to think about the hard earth where Lu Ten lies, far from the palace.

All around Iroh are luxuries he has not known for many years, material pleasures ready to be seized: baths in the hot springs, roast duck sent up from the kitchens, tea that hasn't lost its flavor from traveling with him to Ba Sing Se and back again. Perhaps there is a measure of comfort to be found in these things.

\---

He comes upon Zuko in the palace garden, sitting alone in the grass near the pond.

"Your mother has written to me about how hard you have been working on your Firebending," Iroh says, and Zuko raises his bowed head.

"Father says not to speak of her, because she betrayed us," he says, though his wide eyes search Iroh's for a dispensation.

"You can talk about her to me," Iroh says. "After all, she is very important to you. She is important to me, too, though I know it is not the same. She brought Lu Ten here to feed the turtle ducklings, sometimes, when he was small."

"He says I'll never see her again." Zuko's voice quavers, and he turns his face away.

Iroh thinks of Ursa's last letter to him, of the private anguish its sympathy must have concealed. "It's natural to be sad when something happens to someone you love."

"Azula says only babies cry."

Iroh strains to catch something of Lu Ten in his cousin's face, but he is not there: thin and startled, the boy resembles a sparrow deer more than a prince. But then, Zuko is still a child. Iroh bends down and sits next to him on the ground.

"Love is a very powerful emotion. Real love--like your mother's love for you, or yours for her--is the finest feeling. But it comes at a cost: the price we pay for that joy is the pain we feel when we are separated from the people we love.

"It is a hard lesson to learn when you are young," he continues, more softly, "but better to learn it now than when you are an old man like your uncle."

Zuko stands and begins to pace around the edge of the pond. "I know it hurts. Everyone knows that. But knowing it doesn't help anything."

"You are right, Prince Zuko. But I'm afraid I don't have any better wisdom to offer you in this situation."

"It's okay," he says, "I didn't really expect any."

As Zuko gazes into the water, words come slowly to Iroh, as though they are being dragged out of him against his will. "When Lu Ten was about your age," he says, "I began to supervise his Firebending training personally." Iroh pauses for a moment, and Zuko turns to listen. "Since you are to lead the Fire Nation when you are grown, perhaps I could begin to teach you, too."

Zuko makes his way back to Iroh and helps him to his feet. On his face, lodged somewhere between the doubt and the grief, is a very small smile.

\---

Zuko arrives at Iroh's chambers at the usual hour, just after Iroh has finished his breakfast.

"Today you are going to take a very important step in your Firebending training," Iroh tells him. "And you will need your swimming costume for it."

"I will? Why?"

Iroh smiles. "Because we are going sea bathing, of course!"

"But _why_ are we going sea bathing?"

"Well, because Bending is all about balance between the elements, and understanding how the elements relate to one another will help your technique. For instance: the heat of fire is countered by the coolness of water. And besides, you've been working too hard lately. It's time to relax a little."

"But Uncle, what you said doesn't make any sense. And I still haven't mastered dagger flames! Master Peng said I should keep working at a technique until I've conquered it."

"Patience, Zuko. Did Master Peng teach you to make fire horns so you look like a Komodo rhino?"

"...No."

"Then you must trust me."

The ocean is chilly in the morning, but Iroh heats the water around them. "Just one of many situations when a little Firebending comes in handy," he says, dipping below the surface.

While Zuko races to the cliffs and back again, Iroh floats near the shore and watches him. The rays of the sun reach him, and he is quite warm enough. They leave the beach only when Iroh discovers that they have run out of dumplings.

"You were right, Uncle," Zuko says once they are back at the palace. "It was fun. But I still don't see what it had to do with Firebending, or the balance between the elements."

"Ah. I am sure it will become clear to you in time."

"You just wanted to go swimming, didn't you?" Zuko is scowling, but there's no anger behind it.

"It _was_ a very hot day today," Iroh says, and grins.

\---

Iroh recognizes the ship that is to be under Zuko's command: a small vessel with a heavy cargo hold, built thirty years ago in anticipation of a long campaign against the Earth Kingdom. Sturdy enough, if a bit uncomfortable. Not a princely accommodation, that much is certain. Iroh is impressed by the practicality of his nephew's choice--though perhaps he should start learning not to be surprised.

Zuko stares as Iroh walks up the gangway, carrying his own luggage.

"Uncle? What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I am coming with you."

A moment's happiness seems to flit across Zuko's face, quickly giving way to suspicion. "Did Father send you to look after me?"

"No, Zuko. Coming with you is my own choice."

Zuko takes Iroh's trunk from his hands. He staggers under its weight for a moment before dropping it on the deck. "What's _in_ here?"

Iroh sets his other cases next to the trunk and stops to catch his breath. "Oh," he says, "only a few necessities for the journey."

"A few necessities? Is that a tsungi horn?"

Zuko sits down hard on Iroh's trunk, putting his head in his hands.

"Careful! My best tea set is packed right under the lid!"

Zuko jumps up again and scowls at the trunk. His newfound soldierly simplicity may prove more inconvenient than Iroh had bargained for. "Tea set? This isn't a vacation, Uncle. It's a war mission."

"I know what this is. And I am here to help you."

"I don't need help. I can command my own ship. I can capture the Avatar on my own."

"I know you could. In truth, I am here only because I care about you."

Iroh sees a tiny war in Zuko's expression, fought between pride and need. In the end Zuko shrugs, and it seems that the victory has gone to the latter.

"Well," he says grudgingly, "I guess if I'm going to bring home the Avatar, I can use all the training I can get."

Zuko gives the signal, and the ship pulls out of the harbor. He consults with the navigator about their course and turns to head below decks.

"Wait," Iroh calls to him. "Zuko, look back at the shoreline. You may be away from home for a long while. And you will want to remember this view."

Zuko's expression is skeptical, but he walks back to the railing, and they look out over the water together. Iroh watches everything recede: the mountain ridges of Crescent Island, the waterfalls below Shu Jing, the primrose path that might have been a consolation to him.

Zuko is no longer looking out at the horizon, but down at the dark water. Iroh sighs. Though he had told Zuko that he'd made the choice to come, in his mind there had never even been a question.

He thinks of Ursa alone without her son, and hopes that she is safe wherever she is. He puts his hand on Zuko's shoulder. Surely it is not too soon, he thinks, to propose a cup of tea.


End file.
